Tickford
Tickford is an automobile engineering and testing company with a history of coachbuilding and tuning and is famous for such products as the 140mph Tickford Turbo Capri. Early Years The company had small coachbuilding origins in the 1820s as the family firm of Salmons and Son which was based at Tickford Street in Newport Pagnell. With the advent of the internal combustion engine, the company progressed into developing coachbuilt cars as early as 1898 and prospered. In 1925 it announced the Tickford "All Weather" saloon which was actually a convertible with the hood mechanism operated by inserting and turning a handle in the rear quarter-panel. By the late 1930s 450 people were employed producing 30 car bodies a week. In 1942 the company ceased family ownership and became “Tickford Motor Bodies” simply known by the name of "Tickford". In 1955 it was bought by David Brown, who was already the owner of Aston Martin (since 1947) and Lagonda (since 1948) and an extensive user of Tickford bodies. He soon moved Aston Martin onto the site at Tickford Street where it remained until Ford moved DB7 production to Bloxham and then to Gaydon for the DB9 and DBS. The Tickford name disappeared between the late 1950s and 1981. Revival In 1981 Aston Martin created an engineering service subsidiary and chose the name ‘Aston Martin Tickford’, rekindling the specialist service available to all vehicle makers, which had been the Tickford philosophy for the first half of the century. With the changing fortunes of Aston Martin, the company moved into a purpose-built facility in Milton Keynes under the separate ownership of CH Industrials plc and despite carrying out a lot of unseen, “back-room” engineering projects for major manufacturers, gained most publicity from adding engineering and tuning to its coachbuilder roots allowing it to develop special products like the 140 mph, turbocharged Tickford Capri for Ford. After the Capri, Tickford worked with among others, MG to create the Maestro Turbo and Ford to create the road-going Sierra Cosworth RS500 and the homologated version of the RS200. These vehicles were made in a factory set up near Coventry and a railway division was set up in Nuneaton to design interiors for underground and mainline train carriages. The hood of the Jaguar XJS cabriolet was also designed by Tickford. These cars were originally converted by Tickford themselves, but it was so successful that Jaguar set up a convertible production line to cope with demand. During the collapse of the CHI Group in 1990, the directors of Tickford executed a buy-out and saved Tickford from going into receivership, partially funded through the sale of the railway division to Babcock International. Tickford was now back in its roots of engine and vehicle engineering and worked on developing new markets. The company won projects in Detroit and the Far East and set up liaison offices in the USA and Germany. Motor Sport Tickford built on its engine performance heritage with the development of V8 racing engines for Aston Martin. These were raced in Nimrod and EMKA chassis and powered Nimrod to third place in the 1983 World Endurance Championship for Makes. Tickford also developed Cosworth engines for Ray Mallock Racing and Ecurie Ecosse, with the latter gaining second place in the C2 Class of the 1987 World Sports Prototype Championship for Teams. In the late 1980s Tickford designed, developed and built Formula One engines, including some with unique 5-valve cylinder heads. A Tickford 5v version of the Judd V8 was commissioned by Camel Team Lotus for Nelson Piquet and Satoru Nakajima to use. Tickford Vehicle Engineering & Ford Tickford Experience After a Worldwide search, Ford Australia selected Tickford as a joint-venture partner and Tickford Vehicle Engineering Pty Ltd (TVE) was established in 1991 to be the high performance car division of Ford in Australia Tickford in Australia Retrieved from www.webarchive.org on 28 November 2008. TVE is best known for building the Ford Falcon XR6 and XR8 models for Ford. It also engineered a range of higher performance cars, the T-Series "T-Series" Information Retrieved from www.tseries.info on 28 November 2008 with TE50 & TS50 models based on the Ford AU Falcon and the TL50 derived from the Ford AU Fairlane. The T-Series models were launched in October 1999 under the FTE name, Ford Tickford Experience set for Launch in October Retrieved from www.autoweb.com.au on 28 November 2008, FTE being an acronym for Ford Tickford Experience FTE Questions & Answers Retrieved from www.internetarchive.com on 28 November 2008. The "T-Series" was produced in very limited in numbers, less than 500 built in total. The third series, known as the T3 was the final resting place for the Ford Windsor V8 engine and the last model from TVE. Tickford in the 21st Century Tickford set up a production line in Daventry to convert the Ford Puma into the limited edition Ford Puma Racing (just 500 were built) and did most of the engineering design and development of the Ford Focus RS at Milton Keynes, also providing a build facility next to Ford’s Saarlouis plant. In 2001 the whole Tickford Group in UK, Germany, Australia and USA, was acquired by Prodrive, the British motor sport company and, in 2002, its Australian joint venture with Ford, Tickford Vehicle Engineering, was rebranded as Ford Performance Vehicles. The Tickford name disappeared again. On 24 February 2004 the name Tickford was registered with Companies House as a Limited Company. In December 2006, the management team of Prodrive Test Technology, running the former Tickford site at Milton Keynes, purchased the business from Prodrive. The company is now thriving as Tickford Powertrain Test Ltd, delivering the independent engine and vehicle testing needs of vehicle manufacturers, component companies and the catalyst and petroleum industries.Tickford Powertrain Test In June 2007, Tickford Powertrain Test Limited acquired Scott Gibbin Ltd, a Peterborough-based engine test and development company, giving Tickford Powertrain Test Limited a total of 30 engine and transmission test cells with a wide range of associated measurement capabilities, together with a vehicle exhaust emissions laboratory. On 26 May 2009 Tickford Limited was dissolved with Companies House. The Company name Tickford was incorporated with Companies House as a Limited company on 24 June 2009 along with Tickford Engineering Limited on 20 July 2009 by a Midlands Businessman. Preservation A few examples of Ticford coachwork and modeifed cars exist and appear at Classic vehicle shows in the UK. :Please list known examples here; * Tickford Capri * Tickford Mini References / sources External links * Tickford Owners Club * T-Series Owners Club * Tickford T-Series Information * MG Maestro Turbo Tickford Register * Tickford Powertrain Test Ltd Category:Aston Martin Category:Ford Category:Coachbuilders Category:Auto parts suppliers Category:Automotive companies of Australia Category:Companies founded in 1981 Category:Automotive motorsports and performance companies Category:Companies founded in 1942 Category:David Brown Category:1955 mergers Category:Defunct Brands UK Category:Companies of Australia